23.02 Vereda de la Estrella to Cabanas Viejas and a walk in Granada: A mix of mountain and city life.
Grab power, tax the people, build a palace, loot the treasury followed by conscripting the peasants, attacking the enemy, killing, conquering and building another fortune. Repeat as often as the people will allow it or until the next power-hungry despot succeeds. Forgive us for the negativity but this scenario plays over and over; the only change is in the constantly improving technology and slick propaganda. So whereas we are enormously impressed with man's ingenuity over the years, we are rather depressed at the behavior. We believe we don't (hope) come across negative in the blogs but beg your indulgence for the rant after a palace and fortress visit. In order to get the feeling out of our minds, we'll borrow a favorite phrase from John Muir: "We hear the mountains calling..." The pictures below provide a mix from a fairly tough hike on the outskirts of the Sierra Nevada National Park and city scenes in the south of Spain. We walked to and around t...